Cat tracker/finder - Airtags etc
Discussion
I asked something on this topic some time ago but at the time it was in context of being curious just where one of our cats went during his patrols as we'd seen him all over the place. At the time I concluded that most stuff out there was either very chunky or came with expensive on-going payments or a bit of both.
Sadly, the reason for bringing this back up again is that our other cat went missing over a week ago. We've looked everywhere for her but no sign whatsoever. Hopefully she turns up again but it has brought up the thought again of fitting some tech to the cats to give us some help if they go missing in future.
I'm really not too bothered about activity tracking etc and ideally would avoid on-going costs but let's see.
Worth mentioning that we live very rurally as I think that is relevant to some of the options out there that rely on meshing signals from phones.
This week, we bought an apple air tag to experiment with. It claims to have a range of about 30m which I felt would give us a sporting chance of finding a lost cat if they hadn't wandered too far from home.
However having experimented with it today I would say that range is hopelessly optimistic! My wife hid it outside. I got a a weak signal about 10m away that then disappeared completely as I unknowingly got closer to the device and then came back strong when I was about 3m away from it. Maybe there are settings I can play with but I can't see that being much a of a solution.
Would really appreciate some recommendations though I would stress that I'm really not keen on huge lump being fixed to their collars but I'm slightly concerned that might be the only way to get something worthwhile.
Sadly, the reason for bringing this back up again is that our other cat went missing over a week ago. We've looked everywhere for her but no sign whatsoever. Hopefully she turns up again but it has brought up the thought again of fitting some tech to the cats to give us some help if they go missing in future.
I'm really not too bothered about activity tracking etc and ideally would avoid on-going costs but let's see.
Worth mentioning that we live very rurally as I think that is relevant to some of the options out there that rely on meshing signals from phones.
This week, we bought an apple air tag to experiment with. It claims to have a range of about 30m which I felt would give us a sporting chance of finding a lost cat if they hadn't wandered too far from home.
However having experimented with it today I would say that range is hopelessly optimistic! My wife hid it outside. I got a a weak signal about 10m away that then disappeared completely as I unknowingly got closer to the device and then came back strong when I was about 3m away from it. Maybe there are settings I can play with but I can't see that being much a of a solution.
Would really appreciate some recommendations though I would stress that I'm really not keen on huge lump being fixed to their collars but I'm slightly concerned that might be the only way to get something worthwhile.
Edited by Gad-Westy on Friday 14th February 07:37
We live rurally, and our cats just do what they want, all ok by us. Pedro, the current guest, would fight hard to not wear anything, so we don’t try, and previous cats were the same. A part of our pleasure is letting cats just be themselves. Strapping a big lump to a cat wouldn’t, for us, be a price worth paying ‘just in case’.
If you did want to go ahead with a purchase then, as I think you’ve alluded to in your post, I’d forget AirTags. Like you, we’re also rural. I have an AirTag on my keys and it regularly has an outdated location because of the reliance on phones being nearby to update it.
Even in non-rural areas, it surprises me when I see dogs wearing one of those collars that has an AirTag. Surely if the owner let’s it off in the woods, it’s going to be the same problem?
Even in non-rural areas, it surprises me when I see dogs wearing one of those collars that has an AirTag. Surely if the owner let’s it off in the woods, it’s going to be the same problem?
Tony1963 said:
We live rurally, and our cats just do what they want, all ok by us. Pedro, the current guest, would fight hard to not wear anything, so we don’t try, and previous cats were the same. A part of our pleasure is letting cats just be themselves. Strapping a big lump to a cat wouldn’t, for us, be a price worth paying ‘just in case’.
Cheers. I am somewhat torn on this as I don't even particularly like them having to wear a collar, let alone then attaching some lump to it. The trouble though with us just letting cats be cats is that the one that is currently MIA has a habit of simply getting stuck in places. She'll crawl into gaps that she can't get out of or enter open buildings that then end up not open with her still inside. Last year we found her in a neighbour's locked garage only by my daughter hearing the faintest noise as she walked past. Having a working tracker on those occasions would have been handy. Now that she's missing again, it's a big worry that she may simply have been trapped somewhere with us unable to find her. Edited by Gad-Westy on Friday 14th February 07:40
gl20 said:
If you did want to go ahead with a purchase then, as I think you’ve alluded to in your post, I’d forget AirTags. Like you, we’re also rural. I have an AirTag on my keys and it regularly has an outdated location because of the reliance on phones being nearby to update it.
Even in non-rural areas, it surprises me when I see dogs wearing one of those collars that has an AirTag. Surely if the owner let’s it off in the woods, it’s going to be the same problem?
Yeah. I've pretty much concluded that air tags will simply not work for this purpose. Trouble is that almost everything else is much more substantial. Even in non-rural areas, it surprises me when I see dogs wearing one of those collars that has an AirTag. Surely if the owner let’s it off in the woods, it’s going to be the same problem?
My other half was recommended these. Not cheap and still not tiny but a fair bit smaller than GPS options and weight nothing which is perhaps more important. Still not quite sold on the idea I have to admit.
https://mytabcat.com/shop/tabcat-bundle-v2/
My advice is - Don't bother.
These radio frequency rangefinder type devices all claim ranges like '500ft' and so on, which sounds decent, but the small print always says line of sight, so as soon as you get houses, trees, hills, walls, fences, cars, garages, sheds, or anything else in the way, that range drops very rapidly, probably to less than 100 metres.
Seen as how cats wander quite far when out on patrol, you can see why this very limited range would not be useful.
The GPS/Cellular type systems are far better for actually locating a missing cat, and for tracking a cat in real time. But these systems have all but disappeared as the battery life on them is really poor, as they have a 3G/4G transceiver in them, which obviously consumes battery power constantly. I had one called Paw Track and whilst it was good at showing me a live map of where my car was, where he was walking to, and where he had been, it was annoying having to swap the collar for a charged one (you got 2 in the pack) every 24 hours or so.
I only used the Cellular tracking collar when I moved house as the our cat was 12 years old by the time we moved house, and I was slightly concerned about him getting lost when we let him out after moving.
I was amazed by how far he went as he explored the new area. Easily over 1/2 a mile in each direction, and you could see on the GPS map that he was systematically checking out each garden of each house in grid pattern on the way back home from the furthest point, which was really interesting.
But after a few weeks, I knew he wasn't going to get lost, and I took the collar off again and haven't used it. I don't have any collar on my cat, as the risk of them getting trapped/stuck on something is too great.
A couple of people have asked me over the years if I'm worried about my cat being out and about all over the place at any time of the day or night. Busy roads, gardens, local farm, fighting with other cats, and so on, and my honest answer is no. I would rather my cat got killed being out and about doing what he loves, than either keep him at home, or put a collar on him. He's 17 now so he's done alright so far! He still walks a really long way though, and will often walk through the village with me.
These radio frequency rangefinder type devices all claim ranges like '500ft' and so on, which sounds decent, but the small print always says line of sight, so as soon as you get houses, trees, hills, walls, fences, cars, garages, sheds, or anything else in the way, that range drops very rapidly, probably to less than 100 metres.
Seen as how cats wander quite far when out on patrol, you can see why this very limited range would not be useful.
The GPS/Cellular type systems are far better for actually locating a missing cat, and for tracking a cat in real time. But these systems have all but disappeared as the battery life on them is really poor, as they have a 3G/4G transceiver in them, which obviously consumes battery power constantly. I had one called Paw Track and whilst it was good at showing me a live map of where my car was, where he was walking to, and where he had been, it was annoying having to swap the collar for a charged one (you got 2 in the pack) every 24 hours or so.
I only used the Cellular tracking collar when I moved house as the our cat was 12 years old by the time we moved house, and I was slightly concerned about him getting lost when we let him out after moving.
I was amazed by how far he went as he explored the new area. Easily over 1/2 a mile in each direction, and you could see on the GPS map that he was systematically checking out each garden of each house in grid pattern on the way back home from the furthest point, which was really interesting.
But after a few weeks, I knew he wasn't going to get lost, and I took the collar off again and haven't used it. I don't have any collar on my cat, as the risk of them getting trapped/stuck on something is too great.
A couple of people have asked me over the years if I'm worried about my cat being out and about all over the place at any time of the day or night. Busy roads, gardens, local farm, fighting with other cats, and so on, and my honest answer is no. I would rather my cat got killed being out and about doing what he loves, than either keep him at home, or put a collar on him. He's 17 now so he's done alright so far! He still walks a really long way though, and will often walk through the village with me.
Edited by Mont Blanc on Thursday 13th February 12:03
I don't think I can agree. Ours are happy wearing collars and we make sure they can get them off easily. We've used loc8tor tags for years and they work well for us. We're fairly rural so airtags or tile won't work, not enough phone coverage, so these are the radio frequency ones. Yes the range can be very limited by objects but you aren't at a fixed point so as you move around the range varies.
It's allowed us to find ours on numerous occasions when they have been somewhere other than where they need to be and of course if they lose the collar you can find that too. I like to know they are around but not necessarily in sight and they give that reassurance. I'd hate to find out I could have got them out of a situation that hurts or kills them but I couldn't find them.
eta tabcat is what loc8tor was, same thing.
It's allowed us to find ours on numerous occasions when they have been somewhere other than where they need to be and of course if they lose the collar you can find that too. I like to know they are around but not necessarily in sight and they give that reassurance. I'd hate to find out I could have got them out of a situation that hurts or kills them but I couldn't find them.
eta tabcat is what loc8tor was, same thing.
Mont Blanc said:
I was amazed by how far he went as he explored the new area. Easily over 1/2 a mile in each direction, and you could see on the GPS map that he was systematically checking out each garden of each house in grid pattern on the way back home from the furthest point, which was really interesting.
I let my current rescue cat out on about her third evening here as she was desperate to get out. That was about 8pm; at about 11pm I thought 'Oh s
t!' and went outside to search. Eventually I saw a small shadow about 100 yards away in someone's front garden. I called and moved towards her but she seemed afraid and retreated. Damn, lost my cat after only 3 days... And then she broke cover at top speed, charged around me in a big semicircle and straight to my back door. She'd known where 'home' was all the time...Simpo Two said:
Mont Blanc said:
I was amazed by how far he went as he explored the new area. Easily over 1/2 a mile in each direction, and you could see on the GPS map that he was systematically checking out each garden of each house in grid pattern on the way back home from the furthest point, which was really interesting.
I let my current rescue cat out on about her third evening here as she was desperate to get out. That was about 8pm; at about 11pm I thought 'Oh st!' and went outside to search. Eventually I saw a small shadow about 100 yards away in someone's front garden. I called and moved towards her but she seemed afraid and retreated. Damn, lost my cat after only 3 days... And then she broke cover at top speed, charged around me in a big semicircle and straight to my back door. She'd known where 'home' was all the time...
Yeah, options are basically airtag based tech, with the clear pros and cons.
Or a larger GPRS sim based unit such as the Tractive trackers.
We got one of the latter for one of our dogs when he was new to use, a romanian rescue, just incase he bolted in the the first fortnight or so, which in the end he very much didnt.
However obviously its relatively bulky for a cat compared to a retriever cross, charging it every 4-5days got boring very quick, and the performance while good enough was actually far from amazing!
Or a larger GPRS sim based unit such as the Tractive trackers.
We got one of the latter for one of our dogs when he was new to use, a romanian rescue, just incase he bolted in the the first fortnight or so, which in the end he very much didnt.
However obviously its relatively bulky for a cat compared to a retriever cross, charging it every 4-5days got boring very quick, and the performance while good enough was actually far from amazing!
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